Meet your 2014-2015 CSU Executive Candidates

26 candidates made up of three affiliations and two independent candidates

Experience CSU

VP Clubs & Internal Affairs- Maylen Cytryn

TC: Why do you think Concordia students should vote for you?

“I truly want to help students. [I am] currently a councillor on the CSU Clubs and Space Committee and have tried my best to contact as many clubs as possible to discuss with them their needs from CSU.”

TC: Strength & Weakness?

“My greatest strength is my passion. I do not take on a project unless I am deeply passionate about it, and once I begin the job, I work tirelessly to make it perfect, which brings me to my greatest weakness: my need for perfection.”

VP Finance- Scott Carr

TC: Why do you think Concordia students should vote for you?

“Currently CSU VP Finance, I have an in-depth understanding of every aspect of the role, and I actually study finance; there are a lot of technical skills required for this job and I would have trouble believing that a non-finance student could successfully complete the role.”

TC: Strength & Weakness?

“My biggest strength is the fact that I’ve already done it before. I won’t need to go through training and I know what is required in order to get the most of every dollar of student money. My weakness is what work is most important.”

VP Loyola- Alex McCulloch

TC: Why do you think Concordia students should vote for you?

“As a student who pays for tuition and living costs, I know the importance of realizing the services provided to us by our university. With my background in communications I can help bring awareness to these services.”

“I have a creative and open mind that wants to collaborate with Concordia students to bring new projects, interesting and inspiring speakers and support innovative ideas. I am here for students and want to celebrate our differences by empowering equality, respect and fairness.”

TC: Strength & weakness?

“I am a doer , I am a hard worker and am passionate for whatever I take on. My weakness is that I sometimes get caught up in the small stuff and have trouble letting go.”

VP Student Life- Sabrina Jorrin

TC: Why do you think Concordia students should vote for you?

“Votes for me means votes for someone who will stop at nothing to ensure you enjoy your university experience. If elected I would like to collaborate between faculties to host brand new events that would attract a wider range of Concordia students”

TC: Strength & Weakness

“My biggest weakness is that I am sometimes so passionate about my projects that I put everything else aside…including life.”

VP Academic & Advocacy- Cameron Tisshaw

TC: Why do you think Concordia students should vote for you?

“I am a passionate academic, my goal is to attend graduate school and study Alzheimer’s disease. I truly care about the education that we receive and Concordia, and I am committed to finding innovative ways to enrich and improve our educational experience.”

TC: Strength & weakness

“My greatest strength is my ability to act as an intermediary between diverse parties with opposing views. My weakness is that I sometimes take on too many projects.”

VP Sustainability-Toshimi Muniz Losos

TC: Why do you think Concordia students should vote for you?

“I understand that the position is about more than being responsible in executing green initiatives. I believe I can make the significant changes needed that will allow Concordia to become more sustainable; environmentally, socially and financially.”

“Our team is 100 per cent cohesive, there is not a single weak spot, and I am confident in saying that every single candidate is highly qualified for their positions. As President I can proudly say that our members compliment each other and accentuate one another’s strengths. Committed and passionate, I prioritize putting collective student needs first, and my team echo’s this very loudly.”

TC: Above all things, what does the Community Matters team stand for?

“We stand for a facilitator CSU; one that shares resources and information transparently; that never works alone, but always in collaboration with as many groups as possible; and whose projects and vision are informed by direct student-consultation.”

VP Clubs & Internal Affairs- Katherine Soad Bellini

TC: Why do you think Concordia students should vote for you?

“I am highly organized and truly care for the success and well being of others. By supporting fee-levy groups and increasing relevancy of the CSU as a student leader, I can ensure cross-faculty development within the university.”

TC: Strength and weakness

“My weakness is my humbleness which lead to people underestimating my experience and qualifications. My strength is my passion.”

VP Finance- Heather Nagy

TC: Why do you think Concordia students should vote for you?”

“My priority is to once and for all demystify our student finances by making easy to understand financial statements and budgets as well as financial committee minutes. I hope to rebuild confidence in the membership and public at large of the CSU’s finances.”

TC: Strength & weakness

“My strength is bringing together people that hold different ideas. My weakness is my humorous, self-deprecating attitude.”

VP Loyola- Gabriel Velasco

TC: Why do you think Concordia students should vote for you?

“Student’s spaces, services as well as student-run sustainable and affordable food is what I commit to bring to Loyola. As a Loyola student who has been actively working on developing a better food system for several years, I am confident that my knowledge and experience is unique.”

TC: Strength & weakness

“Both my greatest strength and weakness is that I am a visionary.”

VP External & Mobilization- Anthony Garousflais-Auger

TC: Why do you think Concordia students should vote for you?

“I want to develop exciting campaigns on campus, and bring leading individuals working around issues affecting our generation such as climate change, growing income inequalities, and eroding civil liberties. I also want to use CSU resources to help other student groups reach as many students as possible.”

TC: Strength and weakness

“My greatest strength is my experience with external groups. My weakness is that I hard on myself.”

VP Student Life- Charles Bourassa

Why do you think Concordia students should vote for you?

“I feel I already have a strong presence on campus, and I am engaged with various student groups, associations and faculties. My overall goal is to bridge the gap between social and academic events on campus.”

Strength & weakness

“Biggest strength: I love meeting new people, and get along well with others. Biggest weakness: I work too much.”

VP Academic & Advocacy- Terry Wilkings

Why do you think Concordia students should vote for you?

“My priorities lie in making use of privileged institutional information to directly support students. I firmly believe undergraduate students want to have meaningful participation in academic governance, which is why I helped organize Concordia Student Congress.”

VP Sustainability- Jessica Cabana

Why do you think Concordia students should vote for you?

“I am passionate, driven and have tangible ideas to make our university more sustainable. I’ve gained experience in sustainability through my employment, education and volunteering engagements at Concordia. I want to implement a student-run, cooperative café, the Loyola Greenhouse project and make sustainable initiatives more accessible to students.”

Strength & weakness

“My greatest strength and weakness are the same thing—that I care.”

CSUnited

President-Jon Kim

Why do you think your affiliation is the best for Concordia?

“Our team best represents the Concordia student body, and the diversity that makes Concordia special. We have representatives from every faculty, and we all come from very different backgrounds, which allows us to look at what the union should be in very different ways. We’re not really part of the political scene in the school, but we still are very involved in the Concordia community.”

Above all things, what does the CSUnited team stand for?

“Above all things we stand for diversity and creativity.”

VP Clubs & Internal- Simon Dansereau

Why do you think Concordia students should vote for you?

“I wish to foster and encourage Concordia’s diversity by promoting club activities and growing student space, and to empower every student to make their experience here what they dream it to be.”

Strength & weakness

“My greatest strength is my indomitable and effective work ethic, nothing can stop me! My weakness is my difficulty approaching people in large crowds, but I feel I make up for it by being very approachable.”

VP Finance- Alicia Chan

Why do you think Concordia students should vote for you?

“I’ve been managing Queer Concordia’s financial endeavors since Fall 2012, in the Fall of 2013 I became Queer Concordia’s first Financial Coordinator. I constructed a system of financial organization that can be easily understood and is implementable for my successor, and developed a system of financial accountability for the board.”

Strength & weakness

“My biggest strength is my objectivity, my biggest weakness is that I am uncomfortable talking from a personal standpoint.”

VP Loyola- Niki Fronesca

Why do you think Concordia students should vote for you?

“I see Loyola as being a blank canvas where the ideas generated will be able to create a plan for a campus that is more dynamic, involved and part of Concordia as a whole. I’m motivated to put into action the ideas that are feasible and brought forth by students, and I genuinely want to help connect the two campuses.”

Strength & weakness

“My biggest strength is my hard work ethic, my weakness is that I sometimes take on too many activities.”

VP External & Mobilization- Mathieu Guertin

Why do you think Concordia students should vote for you?

“Concordia students should vote for me because I am ready to work with all faculties and councillors, fee-levy groups and other outside stakeholders from an objective point of view that is constructive and beneficial for Concordia students.”

“As a student I missed a lot of events regarding orientation and frosh. I want to create more awareness for these activities because I believe they are moments where new students make friends and start making positive bonds with others which will increase their involvement in the university.”

Strength & weakness

“My weakness is that I am not familiar with politics, but my strength is that I can learn anything.”

VP Academic & Advocacy –Mareike Michele

Why should students vote for you?

Academics and Advocacy really do go hand in hand, I am continuously reminded that mutual understanding is largely built through education and productive dialogue can only happen once understanding is reached. My personal goal as VP Academic and Advocacy is to break down walls between groups that rarely communicate, but could benefit greatly from doing so.

Strength & weakness

My weakness is that I take on a lot and sometimes stress easy. Still, my greatest weakness is the other side of the coin to my greatest strength. The desire to execute everything properly and putting as much time and effort into the objectives I devote myself to as possible has yielded very positive results so far.

VP Sustainability- Bailey Watson

Why do you think Concordia students should vote for you?

“Growing up in a First Nations culture, the idea of interconnectedness between all of the earth’s creatures and our tasks as humans to maintain a balance that has taken billions of years to establish, has been something that has become deeply embedded in my psyche and guides my everyday decisions. My focus will be to support existing sustainable student groups by providing them with the resources, initiatives and collaborations they need.”

Strength & weakness

“My strength is my creativity and adaptability, my weakness is that I am shy.”

Independent

President- Chuck Wilson

Why do you think you make the best President for Concordia students?

“I think I am the best candidate for president because of my extensive qualifications, networks within the university, and ability to bring together both sides of an issue. I’ve held positions as a student representative throughout the university, which collectively has given me the legal, financial, and leadership skills to effectively direct the CSU executive. Besides my involvement in student politics, I’ve also experienced Concordia from the perspective of an uninvolved student, a TA, and a staff member. Combined, it’s given me a lot of insight into what students expect from their union and their university, as well as how the University bureaucracy approaches different issues.”

Why did you choose to run independently?

“While being an independent candidate certainly has its disadvantages when campaigning, the lack of “us versus them” mentality is a clear advantage to a presidential candidate in a non-­slate system. I am not on one particular team ­­ I am on everyone’s team.”

Above all things, what do you stand for?

“Inclusivity and legitimacy.”

VP Sustainability- Michael Abbott

Why do you think you would make the best VP Sustainability for Concordia students?

“Running independently is an amazing challenge. I was not expecting the amount of courage needed to stand solo and promote my ideas. I chose to run solo because I was tired of not being aware and feeling distanced from a student union that I belong to.”